Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19530 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-01-09
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Synopsis
Inspired by the true story of Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the popular Seattle-based rock band Nirvana who committed suicide in 1994, director Gus Van Sant (ELEPHANT) presents this meditative journey through the last days in the life of fictional musician Blake (Michael Pitt). In a bewildered state of drug withdrawal, Blake stumbles through deep woods groaning and mumbling quietly. His words are only occasionally coherent, and even less occasionally audible. Thus, the focus is on Blake's tortured, slow-motion movements and his tangle of chin-length blond hair, which hangs like a mask over his face. Reaching a clearing, Blake enters a dilapidated mansion where he lives with four similarly confused young rockers. A string of foggy events follows in partially chronological order. Scenes overlap, allowing for minor details to be added later. This style hints at the insignificance of time and of everything from Blake's perspective. Avoiding human contact, taking long walks, playing music, and hiding in the greenhouse, Blake nears his inevitable end. He digs up a parcel from the backyard, smokes a cigarette and painstakingly pours a bowl of Cocoa Krispies, changes into a black evening gown and grabs a rifle, answers the phone and says nothing when a voice asks him about an upcoming tour. Blake then descends into a bizarre, barely conscious state during which people come and go from the house. But none of it seems to register, as he is already lost. LAST DAYS finds melancholic beauty in green trees reflecting in window panes, and the sound of rippling lake water echoing the ambient noise in Blake's head; and Pitt shows chameleon expertise in his mutely charismatic depiction of the unreachable Blake, whose resemblance to Cobain is both haunting and magical.

Customer Reviews

93 minutes of my life that I want back
This is the story of the last days of Kurt Cobain's life. Though he can't really be called Kurt Cobain, because Courtney might sue. So we have him depicted as Blake- a successful rock star who just wants to be left alone. He urinates in a stream, he eats noodles and he runs away whenever he sees someone at his door. His house is populated with hangers-on and drug-fiends, and just in case you didn't get that- the song Heroin by The Velvet Underground plays. Blake is depressed and cannot be bothered with life- but he has more costume changes than a Mariah Carey concert here. Remember Kurt in the red and black striped sweater? He wears it in the film. Remember him in the black dress? He wears it in the film. The hunting cap? Yep! He wears it here.

This film is so incredibly tedious that it almost becomes offensive. It is as if the director has tried to mirror Kurt's obvious depression and boredom in the film-making. We even get a 30 second shot of a tree at one point- for no apparent reason. Let me get this out of the way- I am a huge Nirvana fan. I am a huge fan of movies. I prefer slow, thoughtful films over Hollywood blockbusters. All I ask from a director is that he move me in some way. Any way! Make me laugh a little. Make me cry. Make me gasp in awe just once at how beautifully framed a shot is. If the rest is substandard I can forgive them, as long as there is something to justify me having sat through their movie. Just do something within 93 minutes that I can take away with me. The main problem is this: There isn't a story here. Kurt Cobain's last few days: He ate, he shot up, he fell over and he shot himself. That is it. Don't offend me by trying to pass this off as something arty and thoughtful. It's easy to say that if someone doesn't like this film then they just didn't get it. It's their fault. They were expecting somthing more conventional like 'Ray' or 'Walk The Line'. No. Chances are that if you're gonna see this film then you're going to expect something different than your average biopic.

I had heard going into that it was tedious, boring and pointless, but I was willing to give it a chance anyway. What you get is an hour and a half of pretensious waffle. There has been some criticisms aimed at this film that there is not enough dialogue. Wrong. There is too much. The man from the Yellow Pages? The hangers-on? Blake reading aloud his suicide note- just in case we didn't get the idea that that's what he was writing? It's all surplus. I could have congratulated a film where the camera lingered solely on the Blake character and showed us no-one else. I could have even accepted his Beavis and Butthead mumblings to himself. What I cannot accept is a film filled with bad dialogue, bad acting and such obvious references to the real life Kurt whilst staunchly denying that it is based on him. My wife turned to me ten minutes into the film. She said "This is really tedious". I told her to give it a chance. Not much long afterwards I was willing Blake to hurry up and blow his brains out.

Truly one of the worst films I have ever had the misfortune to have paid to watch. There is an interesting story about the life of Kurt Cobain that would make a half decent film if made by even the most cack-handed of directors. This isn't it. Why didn't Oliver Stone just make The Doors about the last days of Jim Morrison's life? Because it would have been boring. Instead he showed us the more interesting moments that peppered his short stay on this Earth. Personally, I think it would be a mistake to make a biopic about Kurt Cobain, but if it happens I can guarantee that it will make an infinitely more interesting film than this one.



*Follow-up: Some months later:

I am pleased to say that I managed to offload my copy of this and receive a whopping £2 for it. If you are still in any doubt about how bad this film is I urge you to check out the hilarious music video included on the dvd. Michael Pitt and his awful band parody Nirvana and spit pizza at the camera, whilst they mockingly "play happy" for the camera. Truly abysmal stuff. And after sitting through 5 minutes of the Michael Pitt interview I am now convinced that he was in fact playing himself in the movie- what an absolutely boring, aloof and idiotic man.

Boring beyond belief
Everyone associated with this film should be deeply and thoroughly ashamed of themselves, not least for wasting an hour and a half of my life, time which would have been more productively and inspiringly passed watching a dying badger.
Never before have I seen a film so pretentiously and unequivocally self-indulgent, unapproachable and downright boring. There is not a single good thing to say about this work; you will learn nothing except hatred if you watch it.

Sorry, but I hated it
I'm sorry to write such a negative review - normally I wouldn't bother but I disliked this film so much that I don't want others to suffer the same fate. Like chameleon244 I can't understand why anyone would like this film but looking at the other reviews I guess some people do. So feel free to ignore this review - it's only my personal taste after all - but don't say you haven't been warned!

I guess the nicest thing I can say about Last Days is that it has atmosphere. Bags of melancholy, paint-peeling, slow-moving atmosphere. Oh, and Michal Pitt looks a bit like Kurt Cobain. Unfortunately for me this didn't make up for the complete lack of plot, dialogue or character development. I'm afraid I found it terribly, terribly dull. And oh, so slo-o-o-o-o-w. Viewers will gain absolutely no insight into Kurt Cobain's last days other than that he was in a bit of a mess.

I will cheerfully admit that I could have missed the point and this kind of film is simply not to my taste. However, the bottom line is that if someone held a gun to my head and tried to make me watch this again I would take the bullet (which is what I wanted to do pretty much throughout watching it anyway).

At least I will now have no hesitation when someone asks me to name my worst film of all time.